Unearthed video: Project 2025 director said project has “great” relationship with Trump and he’s “very bought in with this”
Written by Eric Hananoki
Published
Paul Dans, a former Trump administration official and the director of Project 2025, told a right-wing podcast last year that his group has a “great” relationship with former President Donald Trump, and “Trump's very bought in with this.” His comments fly in the face of Trump’s recent attempts to distance himself from Project 2025.
Project 2025, which is organized by right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation, states that “Dans directs Heritage’s 2025 Presidential Transition Project, organizing policy and personnel recommendations and training for appointees in the next presidential administration. Prior to joining Heritage, Dans served in the Trump Administration as Chief of Staff at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.”
Media Matters has heavily documented the extreme nature of Project 2025. Notably, Heritage Foundation president and key Project 2025 figure Kevin Roberts recently sparked heavy criticism when he said, “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”
Following the controversy, Trump attempted to distance himself from the Heritage plan and has repeatedly claimed, “I know nothing about Project 2025.” But media outlets including Media Matters have documented the numerous connections between the project and the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
Dans himself appears to have contradicted Trump’s claim that he knows nothing about the project. During a podcast interview that aired on May 20, 2023, the Project 2025 director assured a pro-Trump host that “we've had great relationships” with Trump and other Republicans, adding that “ultimately, yes. I think, you know, President Trump's very bought in with this.”
During an appearance last month on Steve Bannon's War Room program, Dans said that Project 2025 is the “instruction manual” for a second Trump administration. He has also told the Australian Financial Review he thinks Trump “will adopt” many of the project's ideas. He has additionally defended the fake electors scheme.